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Wednesday, 24 September 2014

Christmas Star Garland

I am really trying to start getting organised with my Christmas making plans. This was my one and only New Year's Resolution for 2014 after all, and not much has been happening so far. I have a couple of presents started, but Venetia has beaten me to a finish. She saw these stars on Pinterest a while back and wanted to make some:

The part she found hardest with these was drawing stars she felt were good enough. I was sorely tempted to jump in and draw them for her, especially as she was desperate for me to do that, but I managed to resist and let her struggle on until she had got something she was happy with. She cut out paper templates and drew around them on to her fabric choices with my water soluble pen.

What I did jump in and do was cut out the fabric for her - cutting fabric into complicated shapes seems quite a hard thing to me, fabric scissors aren't the easiest for small hands, and reasonably cut stars were pretty crucial to the success of the project.

Once they were all cut, Venetia sorted them into piles ready to sew.

She wanted to make a star garland rather than just single stars, so she started out sewing her largest star on to some brown twine, and then layered up the other stars, sewing them one at a time. The large backing star was yellow wool each time, to give the stars a good hanging weight.

It was a really good project for her because, I think, wobbles and imperfections don't detract from the charm of the stars. I like projects like that too!

It was also good in that it came together fairly quickly. And I'm looking forward to hanging them up at Christmas.

The children are all going to make at least one home made present for someone for Christmas. I'm hoping Venetia might choose to make another star garland for somebody, I think it would be a lovely present.

So how are you doing with any Christmas making? Made a start yet? Or have you got any amazing ideas lined up? Any sharing of amazing ideas would be most appreciated - particularly amazing ideas for boys! I do find teenage boy making quite tough, but - with apologies for lowering the tone! - this image from Facebook seemed quite appropriate...

I was very disappointed to find it didn't lead to a place to buy these, but then this does open up a making opportunity. I'm thinking of maybe using some of those charcoal shoe insoles that absorb smells, or possibly just a slim lavender bag patch... Not completely sure yet but there's definitely a present making opportunity here! However any other boy ideas you might have would be great too!

And I'm linking up with Celtic Thistle Stitches, who is far more organised than I am and has had a 'Ho, ho, ho and on we sew' theme going on all year, once a month. Pop over for a look at the September makes, or if you're doing a bit of holiday making yourself then you've got till the end of the month to link up your own project over there.

11 comments:

Love the garland. But I'm interrupting my own thoughts here with a 'shit is it really nearly christmas?' How the hell did that happen? So I guess to answer you nope, not at all ready!Madams birthday is the beginning of Christmas so I end to get that sorted too - November is a mad mad month in his house!!

Christmas! You're already thinking about Christmas! I'm still knitting for a flurry of babies that arrived in the last two weeks and then I need to think about Elma's birthday before we get to Christmas. Maybe Christmas should happen in March?! I love the stars though, i'm rather tempted to try to make some for us 😄

Popping over from Ho Ho Ho --- Venetia - you did a GREAT job, YAY!! I love seeing the younger generations getting crafty :) I would put up the garland sooner rather than later, so everyone has a chance to enjoy it :)

LOL @ minty farts - that photo made me laugh :) One year I appliqued towels with the words Face and Butt on either end - those went to the boys in the family :) Other ideas for boys are pillowcases in theme fabrics that suit them ... homemade boxer shorts and sleep pants ... denim bags for car bits, or first aid bits, or lego bits (etc.) ... PVC pipe marshmallow shooters ... last year I bought our 24 y.o. a Gentleman's Ball Scratcher, and this year the 25 y.o. asked for "Weiner Cleaner" soap :D If it's rude or refers to bodily functions, most guys will like it, lol! For younger kids, I did beanbags this year with letters on them (one letter per bag) that spell out the kids' names. A set in alphabet letters (or numbers) would be cool too :)